How to Send Stickers in iMessage on iPhone: Here’s How I Finally Did It

Last updated on October 18th, 2025 at 03:29 pm

Now, before we get any further, I want you to know that I have been recently schooled in iMessage stickers and the extent of its potential so I’ll openly admit it I thought sticker packs in iMessage were just emoji things. One day, though, a friend messaged me an animated cat that perfectly encapsulated my mood each Monday and I thought: “Wait a minute, how did you do that?”

As it happens, I’ve been overlooking an entire Stickers universe lurking in my Messages app. So here’s what I learned about how to send stickers in iMessage on iPhone, minus the technical jargon.

Finding the Sticker Drawer (It’s Not Where You’d Expect)

I the first time, when I searched for stickers, I tapped everything but button. Here’s the real way to locate them:

Open any conversation in Messages and set your gaze on the text field. You’ll see a small App Store icon next to it tap that. Then search for the sticker icon (a folded corner sticker is what its icon looks like). Boom, there’s your sticker drawer.

Don’t fret if you’re not seeing many stickers. You likely just need to download a few packs.

Grabbing Free Sticker Packs

I began with the free versions, because why pay for them if you don’t know you are going to use them?

Tap that App Store icon again, and then the plus (+) or “Sticker Store” button. There is a free tab with all the options. I went a little crazy and downloaded 15 packs in one sitting. No regrets.

Pro tip: Look for things you’re genuinely into. I saw gaming stickers and food packs, and even some really niche ones for coffee enthusiasts. The variety is honestly surprising.

Sending Stickers in Reality (Two Methods That Do)

But once I had stickers set up, I discovered that you can send them in two ways:

The fast way: Tap a sticker and it will send instantly. It’s simple, quick and is ideal for rapid-fire sticker chat.

The fun way: Touch and hold any sticker, then swipe it off the screen. Then drag it over the top of another person’s message bubble or photo. Here’s the cool part you can also stack your stickers, add them on top of texts or stick them to images. It’s as if you’re decorating your chat in real time.

I was unaware of the drag-and-drop thing for weeks. When I figured it out, my group chats were so much funnier.

Making Your Own Memoji Stickers

Here’s something I thought was going to be difficult but ended up being a total breeze: Memoji stickers.

Open to your sticker drawer and tap the Memoji icon (that’s three dots followed by a plus sign). It’s possible to create a personalized avatar that actually, physically looks like you or doesn’t look at all like you if you’d prefer.

And after you make your Memoji, iOS creates an entire sticker pack of assorted expressions. I created mine with messy hair and specs, and by now I must use the “facepalm” Memoji sticker on a near daily basis.

Making Your Own Sticker Packs (Yes, You Can)

I’m such a fan of having draft-specific packs, so I wanted to make some inside jokes into stickers and figure out how to make my own pack. Nope, no need to be a developer.

There are free apps like Sticker Maker Studio that allow users to import their own images (PNGs work best) and create sticker packs for iMessage. You simply upload your images, organize them and the app does the technical work.

Fair warning: Your pictures must have transparent backgrounds to look decent. I learned this the hard way when my first test had ugly white boxes around everything.

What Got in My Way (And What to Do About It)

Stickers not showing up? The bodies themselves were not installed properly in the first place, so do check that they are actually installed. Or I would look through packs and forget to click “Get.” Check your sticker drawer if you don’t see them, head back to the store and download them correctly.

Animated stickers acting weird? This occurred when I attempted very long animated ones. These would either fail to send or simply showed as static images. It seems there’s a file size limit, so small animated stickers fare better.

Can’t find a sticker pack you just downloaded? Left or right swipe in your sticker drawer. I probably had 20 packs downloaded before I learned you can swipe between them. I felt pretty silly about that one.

The Catch with Non-iPhone Users

Heads up: If you send stickers to someone using Android, they will look like regular images. No animations, no interactive stuff. (I should note that it’s an iMessage thing, so it only works its magic with other iPhone users.)

I learned this the hard way when I sent my cousin a bunch of animated stickers and she was like, “Why are you sending me random still pictures?”

Why I Sticker Now

I thought stickers were something for emoji overuse cases. But honestly? Way more expressive than saying “haha” for the hundredth time.

And the drag-and-drop functionality gives conversation a more playful feel. Instead of merely reacting to messages, now you’re engaging with them.

So though you might have been asking yourself how do I send stickers in iMessage with iPhone, the truth is it’s just about finding that sticker drawer and experimenting. Download a handful of free packs, experiment with the Memoji thing, and see what sticks (pun intended).

The whole feature is already in your phone you’re just not using it.

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